Mango Tree Bistro

this is starting to become a foodie blog but what the heck i love to eat!

it was a very boring saturday I had nothing scheduled until another bored soul named Marie Isabelle Bunagan tweeted and boom instant lakad (as always).

Marie and I met at around 7:30PM at Trinoma walked around a bit and found this Thai restaurant that had a soft opening in someone's mind popped "Jasmine Rice" then were off, we asked the door staff about their restaurant she said that it was an international company that has branches in Thailand (uhm malamang) Japan, and another country that I couldn't remember.

earlier that day on twitter she remembered a client of her classmate Annie named Jessica Jellica who always gave me food way back during internship, and that sort of decided what we should eat that day

so since it's a new restaurant why not give it a try? I have a sort of a high standard in Thai food because I already went to Thailand Som's which is by the way a cheap AUTHENTIC Thai feel good restaurant that has branches at Mandaluyong and Rockwell (the owner is Thai who married a Filipina) going back, we were seated at the couch which was fine the ambiance was peaceful but with party music (you'll know what I mean when you go there)

I think those two were owners the guy in white and the one in brown standing

they even have a bar

Then we asked for the Menu, there is something in menus that I find very difficult when restaurants try to be impose that they are authentic

Jasmine Rice

why not just put Curry Pork or Curry Fish rather than putting things that no one can't even pronounce nor understand (even though there is a translation) but that's a personal thing to me just saying ok? seriously I even asked the waitress to assist and pronounce the food that we want (I wanted her to pronounce the whole menu) in which she gladly did, again in my own opinion you don't want people to just order Pad Thai because that's the easiest to pronounce? having difficult names makes a place forgettable for me because I effin forget what the effin name of the food is even though how good it is, can you imagine yourself saying "oh i loved the Phad Pak Bung Fai Deng and the Pla Krapong Neung Ma Now" we are not in effin Thailand! anyways that's just me. So we ordered

Thai Iced Tea

this one is not for the diabetics out there (you get what I mean) and so does the one I tasted at Som's but it tasted authentic they said it was from Thailand I say it's from Lipton, just kidding! (by the way I saw the girl beside our table spooning it, it's a drink lady! hahaha)moving on.

Khaopad Goong - serves 2 daw, pero for me it's good for 1 lang

the rice was a just a tad special with the lime and all, but it's just rice with shrimps with a little something, not worth the PHP 250 you're going to pay, just order the plain Sinandomeng "Jasmine" Rice that's PHP 40

Gaeng Ped Nua (Red Curry Beef)

I can't help but compare this to Som's version of Red curry, this one tasted good had a little kick to it, it's fine for me gastronomically, but the Som's version of Red Curry Beef is heavenly just saying and at Som's it was really red because of the chili

Talay Prik Thai Dum - Stir fried Seafood

Marie wanted seafood so we ordered this, this dish tasted really good, the oil sauce was delicious and all, let's just say there were more onions and bell pepper than the actual food.

oh the kind owners gave us a free Green Mango Margarita which has 1% alcohol to it oh but what the heck it's effin free

Green Mango Margarita and my Jurassic phone

the seating was quite cramped that you could almost eat the food of the people on the other table beside you, Marie wanted personal space and God heard her

now you see the table

and now you don't

and voila instant personal space.  we were enjoying eating but there is something that made the eating experience feel a little bit awkward and uncomfortable, the culprit the SPOON! IT WAS HUGE!

the SPOON beside a 5 peso coin

the SPOON beside my camera case

It was the same size of the serving spoon, the waitress said it's from Bangkok, in my mind I don't care if it's from Divisoria but if it's as big as your serving spoon it should not be used for dining ok?

The rice was "bitin" so we ordered another cup of Sinandomeng "Jasmine" rice, well for me it's fake because I've tasted real Jasmine rice before, this one doesn't have the aroma (I smelled it ok?) nor the taste of authenthic Jasmine rice. and look at what I saw HORROR.

Tutong

Burnt Rice

we call it in the Philippines effin "TUTONG" or the burnt part of rice located at the bottom / sides of the pot. and for me that's a big NO! NO! in a restaurant tsk. tsk. tsk. making my hypothesis stronger that it was just Sinandomeng because as I've watched on many cooking TV shows, Jasmine rice takes a lot longer to burn compared to Sinandomeng or regular rice, and in the end Jasmine or not it is still effin TUTONG. 

the AFTERMATH

 
we actually enjoyed this dinner, we finished the food despite everything, probably one of our best so far together (mind you Marie and I ate Cyma steak inside a movie house because we lost track of time). So note to restaurants every dining experience is perfect until the people who eat finds the little flaws. I give this one just one thumb's up

to Mango Tree Bistro you could make up to me (Tutong rice remember?) by giving me free dinner LOL hahaha! oh well il est ce qui est il.

after which we went a little shopping, we checked out Analog Soul, Marie was buying shoes and the SA could't find her size, I told the SA that I'll count 1 - 5 if she could't find the shoes we're leaving, the SA panicked and looked what happenned.

I call it Halukay Ube

I said "ate joke lang" finally the guy SA found it in less than a minute, no throwing of boxes required, haha! then we watched Piranha in which I ALMOST slept, almost lang naman, and that's it another GOOD day!

Mango Tree Bistro
Level 3, Trinoma Mall

(beside Powerbooks) 

-A